Last blast of gorgeous fall weather this weekend! Time to get after it!

Payette Rim Trail in McCall 

Hi all,

We've been blessed with gorgeous fall weather recently, and my main outdoor tip this week is to get out and ENJOY IT NOW! 

The weather is making a sharp turn next week toward colder and potentially winter-like conditions in the mountains. So this weekend is the time to capitalize on an outdoor outing, whatever works for you! 

I rode the Payette Rim Trail loop this afternoon in McCall to soak in the colors and enjoy a ride that always gets my heart, lungs and legs pumping! The aspen trees and the tammies are turning golden simultaneously right now, so that's a pretty sight to see in the fall low-angle sunlight.

Tammies glowing everywhere! 

After climbing for the first half of the ride, you drop into a singletrack trail that winds along through a series of flattish tree-lined benches above Payette Lake. Today, the sun had warmed from 38 degrees F in the morning to 70 or 75 at that moment. Pure blue sky above the Payette Crest Mountains and a mirror of that cobalt blue sparkled below on Payette Lake and Little Payette Lake.

As I descended on the rocky, snaky singletrack, the tammies and aspens were most brilliant approaching Bear Basin. Those colors should hold through the weekend. 

There's the moose. 

I jumped a bull moose on my ride today! That was a charge! A big black moose, but only a 2-year-old or so, didn't have a big rack. I flushed it out of the woods as I came down the trail. It ran across the trail and doubled-back to look at me like critters often do. We stared at each other for a few minutes and then he wandered off. Glad I didn't run into momma and her calf!         

Fetching views of Payette Lake from the trail.

All of the hiking and mountain bike trails in the greater McCall area would be a great call this weekend, as would be the Ridge to Rivers Trails in the Boise Foothills, Wilson Creek in the Owyhees, the Sawtooths in Stanley or the Wood River Trails in Ketchum.

You will encounter rocky features on the Rim Trail. 

A few Outdoor notes: 

• Chemical treatment to eradicate quagga mussels on the Snake River in Twin Falls has run its course, and now the Idaho State Department of Agriculture and partner agencies will be closely monitoring and testing the water to see if they eradicated the mussels. Some portions of the Snake River below Auger Falls have re-opened. See the ISDA quagga page for the latest information.         
• The McCall ski swap is this weekend Oct. 20-21 at the Payette Lakes Middle School. 
• Boise Ski Swap is on Nov. 3-4 at the Expo Center at the Western Idaho Fairgrounds.
• See my post about Idaho El Nino winters and Idaho Winter Preview on Opensnow.com.  

- SS